[drembedded]

My Doka SBU needs some body work and I've decided to tackle it myself. Only issue is that I've never done any substantial body work in my life.

I'm going to replace panels with new ones so there is minimal bondo work to be done. For now I'm replacing both front fenders and the wheel well bottom lip panel under the front doors.

Has anyone out there replace a front fender on an SBU?

I'd appreciate your thoughts and tips. Much better than screwing it up the first time and having to redo it!!

 

[Merz-Ben]

I've replaced them a lot of times, and I am about to replace the set on my DoKa since they are dented up and I hate to have body filler in them to straiten them out. Removing them without ruining anything is much harder than the actual replacement of the panel. I always take a die grinder and cut the "face" of the panel off, then drill out the spot welds on all of the "flanges" attached to the cab and the inner fender structure and remove what is left. The new panel installs with a series of spot or plug welds, then the seam between the cab and the fender gets seam sealer to give it that finished look.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Ben

PS, I forgot to get back to you on those used parts you asked me about, but it appears that I used up most of the stuff on my fleet of trucks. Sorry I can't help out on that.

 

[Merz-Ben]

I forgot to say that while you have the skins off you really need to give the inner structure a good looking over and make sure there are no rust problems. THis is the load bearing member of the cab while tilting and it WILL fail when you tilt the cab if it is compromised, especially with the added weight of the DoKa cab. It isn't pretty when you jack up the cab on a SBU and the front corner breaks off :-(.

Cheers,
Ben

 

[drembedded]

Ben,

Would it be possible for you to take some pictures and, if its not too much trouble, to take specific notes of each step?

For example, in corners where three panels (sometimes two panels) come together I've found that they are welded together with a bead. Sny suggestions on how to remove the bead without damaging the panels?

Thanks,
Michael

PS No worries on the parts. If you happen to come across a used air shift cylinder for the trans, keep me in mind.

 

[Merz-Ben]

Michael,

If you are not in a hurry, when I get to the point of working on the fenders on one I will take a bunch of photos while in progress and notes of what needs to be done.

As far as the welds, you will probably need to use a die grinder and/or a cut off wheel to get them off. You will just have to be careful not to take out too much material while you are grinding.

Cheers,
Ben

 

[TRUKTOR]

Some photos of that type of work, if not the actual work.

 

[TRUKTOR]

Body panels.

 

[esde]

I've done a decent amount of panel replacement on different vehicles, my 416 included. Sometimes when the original seam, flange, spotwelds are hard to get at, find an easy spot to cut the good from the bad. I bought an air operated tool
Eastwood Co. - Flanger/Punch Tool Pneumatic 7/32"
that lets me lap seams and have them look flush. The same company also has special bits for drilling out spot welds. Measure alot and check before final welding and you should be fine.

 

[drembedded]

Esde, thanks for the tip. I'll check into that tool. I thought I saw one of these at Harbor Freight.

Truktor, hey those new panels sure look familiar. Though your cancer looks WAY worse than mine.

Ben, work on my Mogs is best described in units of years rather than months or days. I'd appreciate any pictures you take, thanks!

 

[TRUKTOR]

NOPE, That isn't MY cancer, some fellow in Germany.

Just your basic
internet farming operation that I passed on for any help it might provide.